Alleged killer Tinsley finally moving toward trial

The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg is revealing details of the ongoing case against Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, the 61-year-old man accused of raping and murdering Culpeper County resident Rebecca Lynn Williams in 1982, the crime that almost resulted in the execution of an innocent man. Tinsley, who allegedly stabbed the 19-year-old Williams to death in front of her two young children, is already serving two life terms in state prison for a 1984 rape here in Albemarle, but he wasn't connected to the Williams case until 2006. The original suspect, Earl Washington Jr., confessed and spent time on death row until he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2000 and later pardoned. Last May, a Charlottesville-area jury awarded Washington $2.25 million in a civil judgment against the estate of the State Police investigator most closely associated with Washington's false confession. A hearing for Tinsley originally scheduled last fall was postponed when he suffered a heart attack. Tinsley still suffers from a heart ailment, but the Fredericksburg newspaper reports that he appeared to be in relatively good condition as the proceedings commenced yesterday. #